Wire coding material

ABSTRACT

Electrical wire encoding material has a backing sheet to which stickers are peelably mounted. Each sticker bears both an identification number and color. When peeled from the backing sheet a sticker may be banded about a wire of matching color with a specific circuit number.

TECHNICAL FIELD

[0001] This invention relates generally to electrical wiring, and more specifically to wiring installation identification material.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

[0002] Modern residential and commercial buildings commonly have electrical outlets and loads located throughout. A single room may have several sockets, ceiling lights and fan and wall mounted switches and rheostats. Electrical wiring connects these to various junction boxes and they in turn with a circuit breaker panel or fuse box. The panel is in turn coupled with a municipal power source through a master switch.

[0003] As each outlet and load requires multiple wires, the number of wires that a building requires is large. To correctly wire or rewire any circuit requires the installer to be able to identify each wire. For example, a single socket or load may have three wires, a “hot” wire, a neutral wire and a ground wire. Each end of the wire must be correctly matched or otherwise a ground wire might be incorrectly connected to a hot wire. In addition, it is necessary or at least desirable to know more than simply which wires are hot, neutral and ground. It is desirable to know which wires are in which circuits. Without that knowledge an electrician, for example, may have to experiment in order to identify wires that are servicing a specific room or specific circuit within that room. When working in a hot or cold, poorly lit area, such as in an attic or ceiling area, having to try trial and error to identify a specific wire is tedious and time consuming.

[0004] Wires have heretofore been color coded to identify those that are hot, neutral and ground. For commercial buildings brown, orange and yellow indicate high voltage or hot wires. Black, red and blue indicate low voltage hot wires. Grey signifies neutral wires in high voltage circuits while white signifies neutral for low voltage. Though color is very useful, such coding still does not identify any specific circuit nor any specific circuit breaker. Moreover, such color coding has been done by the manufacturers leaving an installer or repairman still with a multiplicity of differently colored wires and reels of wires with which to work.

[0005] Accordingly, it is seen that a need has long existed for an improved manner and material for electrical wiring identification, and particularly one that can be employed on site and better employed by the installer or repairman. It thus is to the provision of such that the present invention is primarily directed.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] In a preferred form of the invention electrical wire encoding material for on site use comprises a backing sheet to which a plurality of stickers are detachably mounted that have a tacky surface sticking onto the backing sheet and a non-tacky surface that bear a plurality of diverse identification numbers and colors. Preferably a number of the sheets are bound together as a pad or booklet. Having both an identification number and color code on a same sticker has been found to greatly facilitate wire identification for installers, particularly in commercial buildings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING

[0007]FIG. 1 shows the face of electrical wire encoding material in sheet form that embodies principles of the invention in a preferred form.

[0008]FIG. 2 is a diagrammatical view of selected components of an electrical system.

[0009]FIG. 3 is a plan view of a junction box with one side removed to reveal internal wires in readiness for connections.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0010] Referring now in more detail to the drawing, there is shown in FIG. 1 electrical wire encoding material 10 in the form of a card or backing sheet 11 overlaid with four printed sheets 12-15. The back sides of the sheets 12-15 have a tacky surface so that they are detachably or peelably mounted to the backing sheet 11. The sheets 12-15 are printed with both columns of numbers and colors. Sheet 12, for example, is seen to bear the numbers 1 through 12 as well as the colors black, red and blue. The colors are the same on the other sheets 13, 14, and 15 but the numbers continue on in sequence through the number 48.

[0011] The sheet is scored between each column so that each column may be individually peeled off the sheet. For example, the number 1 with black may be peeled off. The number 2, also with black, may also be peeled off. In addition to the vertical score lines between columns, the printed sheets also have horizontal score lines at 18 which are seen to be between the next-to-last and the last number in each column of numbers.

[0012] With this material an electrician can peel off a single sticker that bears five number ones, for example, and wrap it about an insulated wire of a matching color as a band. The number 1 can thus be seen from any side of the wire as can its associated color. The electrician can alternatively peel off the single number 1 sticker and affix it to next to a terminal or circuit breaker. Thus a wire 1 shown in FIG. 2 may be identified as such as it extends from a circuit breaker panel 20 to a junction box 21 and on to a load 22.

[0013] By labeling wire ends before they are drawn through conduit they may, for example, arrive at a junction box pre-tagged as shown in FIG. 3. Here it is seen that a red colored wire 34 is present as is a black wire 32 and a blue wire 36. With multiple cards on hand identification bands may be wrapped about an individual wire at several strategic locations for ready identification. Thus later, for example, an electrician may readily determine which wire at a remote locate is associated with which circuit breaker or otherwise trace individual wires long after they have been installed. This also, of course, enhances the ease in which original installations may be made.

[0014] As another application example, a commercial low voltage panel may have an A, B and C bus bars with A being black, B being red and C being blue. Black wires labeled 1, 2, 7, 8, 13, 14, etc. extend from the bus bar A as individual circuits. With this new encoding material there may be labeled and tracked easily all the way from the circuit breaker board through junction board and switches to individual loads.

[0015] It thus is seen that electrical wire encoding material is now provided that enhances and facilitates the installation and repair of building wiring systems. Although the invention has been shown and described in its preferred form, it should be understood that many modifications, changes or additions may be made thereof without departure from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the following claims. 

1. Electrical wire encoding material for on site use comprising a backing sheet to which a plurality of stickers are detachably mounted that have a tacky surface sticking onto said backing sheet and a non tacky surface that bear a plurality of diverse identification numbers and diverse identification colors.
 2. The electrical wire encoding material of claim 1 wherein each of said stickers is an elongated band and bears a column of identical numbers that when banded about a wire render at least one of the numbers viewable from any side of the wire.
 3. The electrical wire encoding material of claim 2 further comprising a plurality of generally square shaped stickers detachably mounted to said backing sheet that bear said plurality of diverse identification numbers and colors adapted to be mounted to a circuit breaker board.
 4. The electrical wire encoding material of claim 1 wherein each sticker bears a single color and a single number repeated a plurality of times.
 5. Electrical wire encoding material in the form of a sticker that bears both an identifying color and a circuit identification number. 